News about Architectural Technology

Four teams of students from Rob A. Wozniak’s Architectural Design Studio II (ACH261) class, one of which has officially entered its project in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s seventh annual Campus RainWorks competition, this week presented inventive and attractive proposals for green infrastructure to better manage stormwater.

All of the students are enrolled in architectural technology or building science and sustainable design: architectural technology concentration. Each group gave a 20-minute presentation of its project, followed by Q&A from an impromptu panel of judges.

The School of Construction & Design Technologies’ second-year cohort of Built Environment Scholars visited Larson Design Group on Tuesday. The 14 students – accompanied by Carol A. Lugg, dean, and Naim N. Jabbour, assistant dean – toured LDG’s newly renovated state-of-the-art office space in Water Tower Square, and had a discussion with project designer (and 2006 architectural technology alumna) Kara Demmien and Vice President Robert Gehr. Topics included the state of architectural practice today, as well as possible future trends, the importance of creating collaborative open environments, and the significance of an interdisciplinary team approach within the construction and design industry. The first-year students have been awarded scholarships through a $1 million National Science Foundation grant that aims to increase retention, graduation and career readiness for enrollees in Penn College’s STEM-focused majors. The 2018-19 class represents architectural technology; building construction technology; civil engineering technology; heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology; and surveying technology.Photos provided

A second gift of $500,000 from the Tamaqua-based John E. Morgan Foundation has boosted an endowed scholarship fund at Pennsylvania College of Technology to more than $1 million.

The John E. Morgan Scholarship gives first preference to graduates of Tamaqua Area High School who are pursuing “a degree that is not readily available from other institutions, at a comparable price, within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

A school assignment required 9-year-old Trevin Allen to write about his dream. Rather than being a famous athlete, musician or movie star, the youngster expressed a desire to work as a computer designer in the plastics industry for SEKISUI SPI, which employs his father, Lucas L., a 2001 Penn College graduate in building construction technology. Trevin’s “essay” sparked a visit to main campus, where he experienced CAD, the new makerspace and various plastics labs. Trevin’s wish for applied technology education – offered by the likes of Penn College – matches the needs of the workforce, which is grappling with a shortage of skilled professionals. Many Penn College students, especially plastics majors, have jobs lined up well before graduation. The college has a 96 percent graduate placement rate. Trevin’s word to describe his visit? “Cool!”

Designed by students and funded by a forward-thinking group of individual and industry benefactors, a space designed to inspire interdisciplinary innovation and collaboration has opened its doors at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Dedication ceremonies were held Aug. 14 for The Dr. Welch Workshop: A Makerspace at Penn College, a facility constructed in the Carl Building Technologies Center on the main campus.

Donors – as well as members of the college’s Board of Directors, Corporate Advisory Board, the Penn College Foundation Board and the campus community – gathered in the makerspace to hear about its genesis and to view, in makerspace parlance, its spaces for “clean” (computers, 3D printers, sewing machines and vinyl cutters, etc.) and “dirty” (saws, drill presses, routers, lathes and CNC mills) activities to take place within.

A makerspace, providing a fertile environment for innovation and imagination – and the tools with which students can turn visions into reality – was dedicated in Penn College’s Carl Building Technologies Center on Tuesday. The student-designed Dr. Welch Workshop memorializes Dr. Marshall Welch Jr., a local orthodontist and longtime philanthropist, who died in 2012. The Welch family, including son Marshall III, is the principal donor for the facility; George E. “Herman” Logue Jr. supported the so-called “dirty space” (the Logue Fabritorium) and Frederick T. Gilmour, faculty emeritus, made a commitment for the “clean space” (the Gilmour Tinkertorium). The ceremony spotlighted the students and faculty members who brainstormed the idea into existence, and included representative comments from Rob A. Wozniak, associate professor of architectural technology: “With the many students from various majors that will use this makerspace, it is hoped that they take the opportunity to collaborate with others. To create. To explore. To learn about the tools that they may otherwise never have been able to have access to. To try another way of doing something. To invent (and maybe even patent) something new! And, as a result, Penn College, the community and the world will all benefit … from this amazing collaborative effort.”

Fourteen of this fall’s first-year students in construction and design majors at Pennsylvania College of Technology have been selected as Built Environment Scholars in a program that rewards academic talent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related fields.

Scholarship funding up to an annual $10,000 per student is awarded through a $1 million National Science Foundation grant that aims to increase retention, graduation and career readiness for students in six of Penn College’s STEM-focused pursuits.

Nearly all 27 members of Pennsylvania College of Technology’s SkillsUSA team – 21 of them advancing to the 54th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Kentucky – earned medals during recent state competition.

The competitors represent majors across four of Penn College’s academic schools, and the theme for the April 18-20 Pennsylvania Leadership and Skills Conference in Hershey couldn’t have been more fitting for students gaining career-making skills in hands-on fashion: “Champions at Work: Job-Ready, Day One.”

Girls in ninth through 12 grades visited Pennsylvania College of Technology on Friday for a hands-on exploration of careers in construction and design.

The daylong “Framing Your Future” event introduced 42 participants to the industry’s vast career opportunities; included a networking lunch with guest speaker Angie (Martinozzi) Moore, a May 2015 construction management alumna and an assistant project manager at Wickersham Construction & Engineering Inc. in Lancaster; and provided a dialogue with current college students.

An Aviation Camp has been added to the already-captivating roster of fun, interactive and hands-on summer camps that reflect the distinctive career opportunities offered at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

The signup deadline is May 11, for the 11 overnight camps and one day camp. In addition to gaining inspiration to chart their employment path, participants entering grades nine to 12 are eligible for up to $2,000 in tuition assistance should they enroll at Penn College.

Two alumni employees of Larson Design Group – David I. Balzer (’01, architectural technology), director of retail design, and Ty C. Richline (’13, architectural technology, and ’15, building science and sustainable design: architectural technology concentration), who leads virtual-reality initiatives for the firm – visited Penn College last week in the second industry presentation for Built Environment Scholars. A roomful of BE Scholars and architecture majors from various academic years attended the presentation on the role of technology in the built environment. The alumni guests showed examples of how technology could be incorporated into client presentations, utilizing augmented realty, virtual reality and 3-D animations. They also provided a demonstration of VR and Oculus goggle sets, immersing students in an interactive virtual environment. Funded through a National Science Foundation grant, the BE Scholars program is designed to increase retention, degree completion and career readiness for students enrolled in the School of Construction & Design Technologies’ two-year majors.Photos provided

The semester’s first official industry presentation for Built Environment Scholars, featuring local architect Anthony H. Visco Jr. (a 1967 graduate of Williamsport Area Community College and a member of Penn College’s Architectural Technology Advisory Board), was held recently in the School of Construction & Design Technologies.

A makerspace under development at Pennsylvania College of Technology will provide the environment – and essential tools – for students, faculty and staff to collaborate on innovative projects in a dynamic learning setting.

The college expects to open its makerspace in the Carl Building Technologies Center on the main campus in Fall 2018.

“Makerspaces are an innovative means of supplying students with the resources, training and facilities to invent, experiment and produce unique products for either practical or aesthetic value,” said Tom F. Gregory, associate vice president for instruction. “The space provides the means of implementing creative processes for both academic projects and personal inspiration.”

When Robert A. Wozniak Jr. couldn’t find a suitable book for a sustainable building materials course he was teaching at Pennsylvania College of Technology – “nothing that I saw was quite what I was looking for” – he set out on a two-year mission to fill that vacuum.

The result is Made in America: Sustainable Building Products, Materials & Methods, a convenient and comprehensive listing of building products manufactured in the United States.

More than 90 area high school students attended Friday’s “Design and Build Your Future With Careers in Construction” program at Penn College: a full day of exploring construction and design career pathways, meeting Penn College students who have participated in internships, and learning about potential employment needs in the region. The day – which began with a general “Let’s Build” introduction before focusing on specific professions – was designed for 10th- through 12th-graders with demonstrated interest in architecture and sustainable design; civil engineering or surveying; construction management; heating, ventilation and air conditioning; and building construction.